Welcome to Social Media Buzz Weekly, your weekly bulletin of the latest social media updates. With the social media landscape evolving with each passing day, it can be challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments. Well, not anymore, as we have taken it upon ourselves to keep you abreast of every happening in the social media space.
So, without any further ado, let’s take a look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.
1. Pinterest Holds at 433 Million Users, Posts 9% Increase in Revenue
Pinterest published its Q2 2022 performance update last week, which shows no growth in active users, and lower than expected revenue intake. Pinterest remains at 433 million monthly active users, the same figure that it posted in Q1 when its user count started to move in the right direction once again.
Amid the pandemic, which forced more people into online shopping, Pinterest saw a big jump in interest, reaching 478 million active users at its peak. But as COVID restrictions have eased, and physical shopping has resumed, those numbers have steadily declined although Pinterest did add an additional 2 million in the last reporting period.
2. New Study Highlights the Usage of Social Media Platforms for News Content Around the World
Based on its Global Profiles pool, which includes over 43,000 from people around the world, YouGov has put together a new overview of which nations rely on social platforms for news content the most.
2 in 3 consumers in Indonesia and Vietnam now use social media as a source of news, which means that social platforms have a huge amount of influence over information flow in these regions. South Africa and the Philippines are next on the list, while the US is down at 23rd, which provides some interesting perspective on how global trends are being influenced by social media discussion.
3. Instagram Expands NFT Display Options to More Than 100 Regions
Meta is expanding its support of digital collectibles, by making its NFT display option on Instagram available in more than 100 countries, meaning that the vast majority of IG users will now have the option to display their owned works in the app.
Originally launched to selected creators in the US back in May, Instagram’s NFT display option enables users to showcase their NFTs within the main IG feed, in Stories, or in Direct Messages. NFTs on Instagram will be shown with a ‘digital collectibles’ tag, which, when tapped, will display information about the creator of the work, and the ownership of that digital item.
4. TikTok Shares New Insights into How Gaming Marketers Can Connect with Audiences in the App
TikTok has published a new overview of key gaming content trends and behaviors in the app, and how marketers can tap into the conversation as a means to boost their messaging among its rapidly expanding audience.
TikTok also noted that those within its gaming audience follow around 12 business accounts, on average. To tap into this, TikTok advises that brands should look to create an organic persona for their business that aligns with these trends, while also connecting to their own traits and values.
5. LinkedIn Adds New Link Sticker Option to Help Drive More Traffic From Your In-App Updates
LinkedIn’s adding another way to drive external traffic, with a new link sticker that you can add to images in your LinkedIn posts, placing it wherever you like in the frame, and in variable sizes.
The link sticker is similar to the same that’s available in Instagram and Facebook Stories, providing a simple way to add another referral link to your updates. That could be a handy new element to experiment with, and as LinkedIn engagement continues to rise, it could end up being a valuable option for driving traffic from the LinkedIn feed.
6. Meta Outlines Evolving Efforts to Combat Mass Reporting and ‘Brigading’ in Latest Threat Report
Meta has published its latest Adversarial Threat Report, which looks at all the malicious and scam networks that it detected and took action against in Q2 2022.
Meta removed two clusters of hacker groups operating in South East Asia, as well as a troll farm originating from Russia, which targeted global public discourse about the war in Ukraine, in an effort to seed pro-Russia sentiment. Those are pretty much in line with Meta’s usual threat reports, but the company also took action on two new fronts, which could, eventually, have broader-reaching impacts.
7. Twitter Reports New Security Flaw Which Has Led to the Exposure of 5.4 Million Accounts
Twitter has been forced to report yet another security flaw within its systems that had enabled users to uncover whether a phone number or email address was connected to an existing Twitter account. This has led to at least one hacker compiling a huge listing of Twitter account information that was then subsequently sold online.
8. Google Removed Over 50k YouTube Channels Linked to Influence Operations Originating from China
Google shared its Q2 Tag Bulletin last week, which, along with its various efforts to combat Russian-backed misinformation efforts about the invasion of Ukraine, also details that it shut down another 7,169 YouTube channels linked back to China in the last three months.
For comparison, Google removed 231 YouTube channels, in total, in connection to the Ukraine conflict.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next Monday with more news and updates for you from the social media world. Till then, stay tuned!
If you want to read more on the latest developments taking place in the social media space, take a look at ClickInsights’ Social Media Buzz, wherein we bring to you monthly reports on everything going on in social media, ranging from platform updates to policy changes that influence the way we market.